Entries tagged 'YouthNoise'
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
The Last 36 Hours
It’s amazing how quickly life can change. In just the last 36 hours:
- The economic crisis hit home as I was laid off from my year-and-a-half long gig directing organizing programs at YouthNoise. The organization, facing some tough economic times, cut back a number of staff members and cut the hours and pay of virtually everyone else. I’m honestly not sure who got the worse end of the deal, me and my fellow layoffees or the folks who are left behind, with twice as much work to do for 80 percent of the pay.
- I partied with the Bay Area parrothead population at a Jimmy Buffett concert in Mountain View. Not relevant to this story, per se, but it was a ton of fun and a few beers and a few margaritas help anyone forget about being laid off earlier that day.
- Attempted to apply for unemployment insurance from the State of California. Now in the mandatory week-long waiting period, I’m amazed at how I have an Ivy League graduate degree and still struggle with the unnecessarily complex process. Oh yeah, and don’t try to call the office: you get a nice message about there being too many callers (no kidding, have you stepped outside lately?) and then are disconnected and told to call back later.
- And I’m now sitting at the airport boarding a red-eye to Dayton, Ohio, where, with the help of some good friends, I landed a job for the next two weeks doing get out the vote efforts for the Obama campaign. While I’m not totally sure what lies ahead–other than lots of cold pizza and sore feet–I’m more excited than I’ve been in a very long time and ready to see what the presidential race looks like from a swing state.
- I’ll be writing new posts as often as I can, though they’ll probably be sans pictures, as I just realized I forgot the cable for my digital camera. (Argh! I hope I didn’t forget anything else important.)
In the meantime, take a look at this video about traveling to Ohio from the Obama campaign. It’s about all I have to go on for now:
• Email This Post
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Right to Learn Picks Five Best Stories
As many of you know, I work with an organization called YouthNoise and direct a campaign called Right To Learn. Last fall, Right To Learn set out to ask students throughout California what they thought most needed to change in their schools.
The response was overwhelming and we compiled their tremendous stories in to a report called “Our Schools, Our Stories” and a YouTube video.
Today, we finally were able to announce the five stories voted most compelling by users on the Right To Learn site and an outside panel of judges. I’ve had the great opportunity to get to know these five students over the past couple of weeks and have found them to be tremendously bright and capable.
I encourage you to take a look at their winning stories, and the rest of the stories submitted to Right To Learn, for some inspiration:
- Jean Teodoro, “Free“
- Lauren Grubaugh, “Governor’s cuts will hurt students“
- Eric Seidman, “On Standardizing Education“
- Thomas Bruce, “WHY SHOULD WE CARE?!!!“
- Haiyun Weng, “Psychology“
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
Students Want Better Teachers, More Funding
As part of my work with YouthNoise, I direct a program called Right To Learn, which works to engage young people in education reform in the state of California.
After hearing from more than 750 young people throughout the state of California, Right To Learn today announced the release of a report summarizing what youth had to say. “Our Schools. Our Stories.” clearly outlines the reasons young people identified that California’s education system so desperately needs to be fixed.
At the top of the list? Students were most concerned about quality of teaching in their schools and the harmful effects of inadequate funding.
They also spoke about schools that don’t care, threats to your safety, unhealthy conditions, inadequate information about graduation and college entrance requirements and poor access to books, computers, college advice and preparation.
In addition to the printed report, we created a video that captures some of the most compelling stories. Take a look at it below:
This report is only the first step. Right To Learn will continue this spring by organizing students statewide to work hold Day of Action rallies on their school campuses this spring.
• Email This Post